war games in october, unless real one makes them superfluous

The "Austere Challenge 12" joint military maneuvers by the United States and Israel--which had been put on hold on Jan. 15 as a result of war-avoidance pressure coming from U.S. military and intelligence circles--have now been rescheduled for October of this year, according to Israel's {Ma'ariv} daily of Jan. 26. 


{Ma'ariv} also noted that, in preparation for the drill, U.S. military officers will arrive in Israel next week.



About 3,000 U.S. soldiers are expected to arrive in Israel to take part in the large-scale exercise, the report said, and they will be joined by about 2,000 IDF soldiers.


In reporting the news, {Russia Today} took note of the fact that earlier this month "the U.S. deployed 15,000 troops to the nearby nation of Kuwait," adding bluntly: "With the exercise back on the books, it could mean that an eventual war between the U.S. and Iran is still in the works--and now the world has a timeline to see it through."


It is not known whose handiwork is involved in the reinstatement of the maneuvers. The Israeli daily {Ha'aretz} reported earlier this week, sourced from an unnamed U.S. official, that former U.S. government official Dennis Ross was functioning as a de facto back-channel between the heads of state of the United States and Israel, Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu.